Maternal taurine supplementation in the late pregnant rat stimulates postnatal growth and induces obesity and insulin resistance in adult offspring

Abstract

An adequate supply of taurine during fetal life is important for normal beta-cell development and insulin action. An altered availability of taurine may programme glucose metabolism in utero and result in type 2 diabetes in adult age. We examined whether maternal taurine supplementation in late pregnant rats affects postnatal growth, adult body composition, insulin sensitivity and endogenous insulin secretion in intrauterine growth restricted (IUGR) and normal offspring. Uterine artery ligation or sham operations were performed on gestational day (GD) 19. Taurine supplementation was given to half of the dams from GD 18 until term, resulting in four groups of offspring: sham (n = 22), sham/taurine (n = 22), IUGR (n = 22) and IUGR/taurine (n = 24). The offspring were studied at 12 weeks of age. In offspring with normal birth weight, fetal taurine supplementation markedly stimulated postnatal growth. In sham/taurine females, fat depots, plasma free fatty acid and leptin concentrations were increased, and insulin sensitivity was reduced. Insulin sensitivity was unaltered in IUGR and IUGR/taurine offspring. However, whereas IUGR offspring showed little catch-up growth, 50% of IUGR/ taurine animals displayed complete catch-up at 12 weeks of age, and these animals had increased fat depots and reduced insulin sensitivity. In conclusion, taurine supplementation in late gestation resulted in accelerated postnatal growth, which was associated with adult obesity and insulin resistance in both IUGR and normal offspring. This effect was particularly evident in females. These data suggest that fetal taurine availability is an important determinant for postnatal growth, insulin sensitivity and fat accumulation.

Specific timing of taurine supplementation affects learning ability in mice

“…Thus, it is unlikely that this learning deficit was related to a general developmental defect indicated by body weight. With respect to pup body weight, these findings were not consisted with studies in rats: 0.5% (Hirano et al, 1984) and 2% (Hultman et al, 2007) taurine supplementation in the mother's drinking water increased pup body weight. For precise analysis of developmental time courses affected taurine supplementation, it will be necessary to increase the number of subjects.…”

The Positive Correlation between Cord Serum Retinol-Binding Protein 4 Concentrations and Fetal Growth

“…This study did not take maternal BMI into consideration and this may be the reason for these two contradictory findings. In fact, obesity, accompanied by metabolic changes, has also been suggested as the strongest independent predictor for fetal overgrowth [19,26]. …”

“…When fetal body weight increases, more retinol is needed and thus an increased level of RBP4 was observed. Third, it has been suggested that fetal growth is influenced by certain metabolic factors other than glucose [26]. In addition, maternal hypertriglyceridemia is regarded as a significant predictor for fetal overgrowth [11].…”

High dietary intake of medium-chain fatty acids during pregnancy in rats prevents later-life obesity in their offspring

“…Earlier studies showed that the fetal nutritional environment was the key determinant of later-life obesity [2][3][4][5], which can be explained by "metabolism programming" [6][7][8][9].…”